Is Angel Taveras to blame for Providence's poor credit ratings, as American LeadHERship PAC political consultant Kate Coyne-McCoy seems to imply?

[Half True]In July, political consultant Kate Coyne-McCoy registered a new super PAC with a mission, among other things, to boost the potential candidacy of Rhode Island Gen. Treasurer Gina Raimondo, for governor. It is called American LeadHERship PAC.

Raimondo is expected to seek the Democratic nomination in next year’s primary election, and a potential rival for the nomination is Providence Mayor Angel Taveras. Based on the assumption that he will run, Rhode Islander Coyne-McCoy posted on the website for American LeadHERship some disparaging information about Taveras.

Coyne-McCoy wrote that Providence’s credit rating was downgraded to “two steps above junk-bond status.” When a government or business with such a credit rating borrows money by selling a bond, the certificate is called a “junk bond.”

Asked what she is implying by listing that as a bullet point on her website, Coyne-McCoy responded, “I’m just repeating a fact. He was the leader of the city when the downgrade occurred.”

And why bring it up? “Because I don’t believe Angel Taveras is as good a leader as Gina Raimondo,” she said.

All three downgrades, however, occurred about two months after Taveras took the oath of office and after a committee of financial experts empaneled by Taveras found and disclosed that the city had a $110-million structural deficit.